Locals react to Bay Delta Conservation Plan

SACRAMENTO -- The environmental reports for plans for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan were released Monday, beginning a new flurry of debate.

The $24.7 billion plan, seven years in the making, includes Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal for 35 miles of tunnels that would move water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, rather than through a system of pumps in the south Delta that are known to harm fish.

Opinions about the plan began flooding email boxes Monday morning, followed by notes from coalitions and a proposal for an alternative bond measure (see sidebar on Dan Logue).

Locally, Barbara Vlamis of AquAlliance said her group and a coalition of environmental organizations have been watching the BDCP process closely.

"One of the biggest things I have been hearing over and over again is that this thing doesn't look like it can fly," Vlamis said. She said it won't protect the species as indicated, the funding is uncertain and the source for the water is unknown.

In the end, the best choice is less water export, she said.

That's a hard sell to those in parts of the state that rely on Northern California water, she said. "It's hard to crush somebody's monetary dream."

The Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation is just beginning to wade through the document to make comments, which can be submitted through April 14.

Paul Gosselin, executive director of the county Department of Water, said the county will push to ensure regional water rights are protected, and to avoid "dead pool" conditions in Lake Oroville. Economic impacts to this area are another strong concern, he said.

"We are also concerned that in previous documents, an assessment of potential impacts to Butte County and the northern Sacramento Valley region were largely ignored," Gosselin said.

Thad Bettner, manager of Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, explained the BDCP is just one of many related water plans for the state.

Of primary concern is how the BDCP "may affect upstream operations, water rights and the environment," Bettner said.

The document itself is tens of thousands of pages long, and water groups have "split up the workload" to study it, including consultants and groups Northern California Water Association, North State Water Alliance and water users along the American River system.

"We have a fairly large coalition, and a lot of common issues and concerns," Bettner said.

Congressman John Garamendi was fairly direct in his press release, calling the plan a "boondoggle."

In contrast, State Water Contractors have said the plan is the best chance to improve the environment in the delta, and provide water supply reliability.

Nani Teves, of Butte Environmental Council, said the plan to "increasingly export water from the north" will "transfer environmental and economic damage north, but puts the existing water supply for the entire state at risk."

Paul Rogers, of the San Jose Mercury News, http://goo.gl/DsxIzl, wrote about several obstacles the plan will face, including: